Category Archives: Advertising

Their peach-down flesh and cotton-poly clothing were scented, faintly, and at all times with Ivory Soap and horse manure…

September 15, 2019 by Vickie Lester

The moon makes me feel like such a creature, ruled by tides and sleepless when full. So many tides throughout life, don’t you think? Today’s excerpt from the book deals with the tug of some very particular teenage years… HOLLYWOOD & MINE By Susannah Corwin “People in the East pretend to be interested in how pictures are made, but if you actually tell them anything, you find they are only interested in Colbert’s clothes or Gable’s private life. They never […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Parenting, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #hollywood&mine, bocca al lupo, Elizabeth Taylor, equestrian, full moon, John Adams Whipple, over medicated, portrait of the moon, stepchildren, teenager

Feeling as sensuous and sophisticated as the woman who romped with Louis XV…

September 2, 2019 by Vickie Lester

HOLLYWOOD & MINE By Susannah Corwin “People in the East pretend to be interested in how pictures are made, but if you actually tell them anything, you find they are only interested in Colbert’s clothes or Gable’s private life. They never see the ventriloquist for the doll.” Scott Fitzgerald 1. There’s a hardware store on Santa Monica Boulevard, just over the border from Beverly Hills in West Hollywood, which sells thick orange rubber gloves named after a famous French courtesan, […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #hollywood&mine, a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names, book preview, Hollywood, Madame du Barry, novel, read, roman à clef

long time no see…

August 31, 2019 by Vickie Lester

You know how I am about word derivations, I find them fascinating. Long time no see may be something coined from a clumsy 1930s Hollywood attempt to mimic the English of Native Americans, or it could be a direct translation from a Mandarin Chinese phrase 好久不见: (Pinyin) hǎojiǔ bù jiàn. It doesn’t take the abilities of Sherlock Holmes to detect I’ve been absent from social media. Instead of carrying on a conversation here I have been writing a novel, and […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Audio, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #hollywood&mine, a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names, book preview, Ginger Rogers, Hollywood, novel, roman à clef, Sherlock Holmes, social media, story pitch

Strangers on the internet — Exchanging glances

September 8, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Wondering on the internet What were the chances… Hello, Mercury! Sorry, got distracted there for a minute. Shall we get reacquainted? I used to post here all the damn time about things that struck my fancy, like Hollywood history, cool architecture, and fabulous books. Then I self-published a novel, and poppets, I did go on and on. Then a couple of things happened, I was in the midst of writing another book when the political scene went cockeyed, and I […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Publishing, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, Aldous Huxley, Anita Loos, Hollywood novel, narrative, rewrite, voice

“Our office lunches consisted of peanut butter and Jello sandwiches, served with slugs of vodka.” Nicky Haslam

February 2, 2018 by Vickie Lester

The world was interconnected, even before the Internet. Nicky Haslam worked with Diana Vreeland (peanut butter and Jello?), who was a dear friend of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, seen here reading Jack Kerouac’s ON THE ROAD. Just this morning I was walking when I saw a neighbor sitting on his front step, scarf wrapped around his neck, cigarette in one hand, book in another, intently reading the same thing in the first rays of the sun. A book is a gateway […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Memoir, New York, Photography, Publishing, Recipes, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: author William Kuhn, cookbook, decorator Nicky Haslam, Diana Vreeland, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Jello, Lady Diana Cooper, Nicky Haslam, Reading Jackie, unbound

Shh! I’m reading.

October 13, 2017 by Vickie Lester

For ten days author William Kuhn and I have been talking about writing, reading, screenplays, books, black and white photography, Los Angeles, the dream factory, and what and who we love. A tall order and today we wrap it all up. But I wanted you, dear readers, to know some of the most astute things I’ve read about reading and writing come from the pen of my friend, and they are in the book above. I’m going to quote now. […]

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: another reason I love L.A., author William Kuhn, book editor, interview, Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy, Reading Jackie, Susannah Corwin, why I write

Stardust – Joan Crawford

September 30, 2017 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: actress, art deco, behind the scenes, celebrities, Classic Movies, design, fashion, film, George Hurrell, glamour photography, history, Hollywood, JoanCrawford, Los Angeles, Movie Star, Old Hollywood, photography

Words to live by, especially if you’re a writer, with pizzazz from Diana Vreeland

September 29, 2017 by Vickie Lester

There’s another marvelous memoir, from the amazing Diana Vreeland, you might be interested in reading. Her autobiography reads like a novel. This extract resonates with me because of its delicious contradiction: “Truth is a hell of a big point with me. Now I exaggerate—always.” DV Do I? But of course. And that’s the essence of It’s in His Kiss: truth, exaggerated…

Categories: Advertising, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Memoir, Movies, Mystery, New York, Photography, Publishing, Romance, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, #hollywoodnovel, #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, available on Amazon, available on Kindle, DV, today is Diana Vreeland birthday, Vogue, words to live by

Imagine a playwright writing a character four centuries ago that is still vividly familiar to us today… William Kuhn

September 6, 2017 by Vickie Lester

M.B. What inspired you to write a story with Prince Harry as your main character? W.K. I saw a production of Shakespeare’s two Henry IV plays. I was surprised to find how much Shakespeare’s Prince Hal resembles the modern Prince Harry. Isn’t it great when someone from today suddenly illuminates a Renaissance text? Imagine a playwright writing a character four centuries ago that is still vividly familiar to us today. Source: William Kuhn – Fascinated by History, Politics and Popular […]

Categories: Advertising, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, London, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Publishing, Story, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: A little laughter in grim times is better than Xanax, book promotion, British, Laurence Olivier, manybooks, monarchy, Prince Harry Boy to Man, Shakespeare, William Kuhn

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